Gaming is for grown ups, too

Friday

QUINCY — It was a Saturday night and two dozen people, mostly adults, were gathered at Alpha Omega Hobby to play games.

There were role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, card games like Magic: The Gathering, classic board games and tabletop miniatures games like Warhammer 40,000.

Jake Brown, a tech worker from Newton, was playing the card game Key Forge. He said some of his favorite board games and card games have online equivalents, but the online games are missing something.

“You lose the physical part of it. You lose the social aspect, which I feel like is what board games are supposed to be about,” he said.

Tabletop games aren’t just for kids anymore. The industry is seeing big-time growth, and local businesses, including two in Quincy Center, are catering to adults of diverse backgrounds who enjoy playing board games, cards, role-playing and miniatures war-games.

Market research group NPD reports that U.S. sales of more than $9 billion worth of board games in 2017 increased 28 percent over the previous year, and market researcher Euromonitor International said global board game sales rose from $9.3 billion in 2013 to $9.6 billion in 2016. According to crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, more fundraisers have been launched and more money raised to support independent games than any other category.

Krajeski said the growth of board games in particular is a newer trend, but tabletop games in general have been growing more popular for decades. The biggest change, he said, is that games like Dungeons and Dragons have shifted from being cult favorites to more mainstream thanks to popular media like the TV show "Stranger Things."

“I think part of the reason it has so much appeal is that it’s not like the internet. You need social interaction,” he said.

Along with the social aspect, there’s also a tactile element to tabletop games that’s missing from video games, Krajeski said. With table top games, players assemble the plastic playing pieces and spend hours painting them and constructing scenery before they even start playing. That means players have a sense of ownership and pride in their game sets.

“It’s not just a game, it’s a hobby,” he said.

Tabletop games are attracting a more diverse group than they used to, Noven said. While gaming has traditionally been the realm of straight, white men, Noyen said that is changing, and a majority of her regulars are women or LGBT+.

“The community on the whole is turning around,” she said.

Noyen said the potential for competition with Alpha Omega didn’t deter her from opening a game store nearby. She said it’s inevitable for them to dip into each other’s business a little, but ultimately, interest in games is strong enough to keep both stores running. What’s more, the two stores have different clientele. Alpha Omega focuses on miniatures wargames and serious players, while Lucky Goblin markets itself more toward newcomers and casual players, she said

“There’s enough for both of us,” she said. “That’s the thing with the gaming community: everyone works together.”

Gavin DeGust and William Lydon, both high school seniors from Quincy, were at Alpha Omega to play Warhammer 40,000, a tabletop miniature game Lydon described as “Star Wars if it were made by Rob Zombie and Edgar Allan Poe.” The two friends said they started playing over the summer.

“It’s a great community, it’s really nice,” said Lydon.

Lydon said assembling and painting the tiny figures needed to play the game teach patience.

“It’s a long and thorough process,” he said. “You look at all that work and you get this sense of achievement, it’s like nothing else.”

At Lucky Goblins, Garrett Rudge of Quincy tested out a new Magic: The Gathering card deck on a recent evening. Along with card games like Magic, he also likes role-playing games and board games.

“I think the most important part is meeting new people and becoming friends,” he said. “Eventually, the community becomes like family."

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